All publications or patents mentioned in this specification are herein incorporated by reference.
There are a number of occasions when a patient needs to receive medical attention or when medical personnel need to perform medical procedures outside of the contemporary hospital setting. In some situations, for instance, in emergency situations or during military operations, it is necessary to construct emergency medical and surgical facilities in shod periods of time, on many occasions, in remote locations. Under these circumstances, it is helpful to have equipment which is portable, lightweight, low-volume (to allow for easy transport, durable and easy to assemble and disassemble. The equipment must also meet the needs and demands of the situation and the environment.
A clear example of the need for such equipment is demonstrated by the demands placed on equipment used during far-forward military operations. When the military personnel engage in battle and injuries occur, the proximity of the medical personnel and facilities to the battlefield becomes critical. These operations therefore require personnel and equipment that can be moved quickly, often to remote areas. Because of the terrain, the environment, or the circumstances, it is often necessary to airdrop medical personnel and equipment in the proximity of the far-forward military activities. The medical personnel, for example, the Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) teams and the Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) teams, require facilities and equipment necessary to hold patients, to perform surgeries, and to provide combat casualty care.
One piece of the equipment used by the medical personnel is the surgical table. Such a surgical table, one usable in far-forward operations, must be lightweight, portable and durable enough to withstand the impact of an air drop. Because far-forward military medical facilities must be ready to accept patients in a limited amount of time, the surgical table must also be quick and easy to assemble and involve as few components as possible. Fewer components typically results in a corresponding reduction in the volume of material to be transported. The assembler would obviously benefit if the components of the tables were also interchangeable with each other. For example, if the legs of one table could be used on any other, the assembler could stockpile components and readily replace those which were missing or damaged.
The ability to use the surgical table in conjunction with a military litter would allow the medical personnel to operate on a patient without having to move the patient from the litter unnecessarily before or during the operation. Limiting the movement of a patient on and off of the litter, in many instances, reduces the pain inflicted on the patient and minimizes the chance of additional injuries. Also, by using the litter as the primary support, the pressure on the patient's shoulders, calves and ankles could be reduced as the patient's weight is distributed across and supported by the litter fabric instead of a flat table surface or a frame, the table should provide the medical teams with the capability of raising the patient's head and feet as necessary. It is also preferable to have the option of operating from either side of the table and beneficial for the table to have means of housing additional medical equipment and accessories.
Existing surgical tables are not easily adapted to address the needs mentioned above, e.g., meeting the demands of far-forward military medical operations or in other emergency situations where medical care must be administered in remote locations and, possibly, under harsh conditions. For instance, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,865,303; 4,761,000; 4,503,844; 4,474,364; and 4,073,240 disclose transportable surgical tables, however, all of these tables are complicated and time consuming to construct. The tables also appear heavy and difficult to package and transport. None of the tables appears well suited for use in varying environments, e.g. harsh climates, and their durability is questionable. Moreover, all of the tables support the patient using hard flat surfaces which place pressure on the patient's shoulders, calves and ankles. It is expected that the medical personnel would remove the patient from a litter and place him or her on the table before medical assistance could proceed.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,718,653; 4,635,913; and 4,811,937 disclose folding surgical drainage platforms. These devices could possibly be used as accessories to a surgical table, but are not designed to support patients during medical operations.
Given the limitations in their available equipment, the medical teams have at times resorted to performing medical procedures while the patient was lying on a military litter supported on a makeshift structure. In some instances, they have used boxes, containers and other equipment to raise the litter to a more desirable height above the floor or ground. The military litters and the makeshift stands presently used, in combination, as operating tables and for other medical activities are, however, totally unsuitable solutions. The work surfaces are not sturdy. Other necessary medical equipment may be placed in the vicinity of the litter but are typically detached from the makeshift operating table's structure. The separation of the work surface from the vital medical accessory equipment such as, for example, monitors and IV stands, increases the risk that the accessory equipment may move separately from the operating work surface as a result of undesired forces. For instance, a person bumping into an IV stand during a bombing attack or an earthquake may knock the stand over or move it in a way which may lead to dangerous consequences.